Rendering Graveyard: Lyon & Ottawa building

At the turn of the millennium, Grand Rapids' skyline looked poised to get a monumental new office tower.

Dan DeVos, of DP Fox Ventures Inc., and the Ellis family, of parking lots, were in talks with Varnum, Riddering, Schmidt & Howlett and NBD/Bank One (now Chase) about creating a new 25-story building.

DeVos and Ellis hoped to lure Varnum, which had a lease coming up at Bridgewater Place, along with Bank One/NBD and a few other big downtown area firms to the tower's 343,000 square feet of leasable space.

The Lyon & Ottawa Building, as it came to be known, was designed by Concept Design Group with nods to downtown's historical architecture and some modern flourishes. It would have been 485 feet tall. Larger view of photo

The Lyon & Ottawa Building, as it came to be known, was designed by Concept Design Group with nods to downtown's historical architecture and some modern flourishes. It would have been 485 feet tall.

Had it been built, it would have been taller than the newly opened River House at Bridgewater Place condo tower.

"When you come down Ottawa Avenue, this building would have just jumped," said architect Stephen Fry. "It would have stood out as a jewel as you drive into the city."

A parking ramp was to have been integrated into portions of the building's first three or four floors.

The location was, as it is today, a block dominated by a surface parking lot and some Class B/C office buildings next door to the Kent County Courthouse. (The 12-story courthouse was in the works at the time and opened in 2001.)

"There's clearly a strong case to be made for a new Class A office building in this city," David Frey, then senior vice president at NBD, told the Press when the news first broke in 1999. "Given the advancements of downtown, a well-designed, well-proportioned Class A office building has every reason to be successful."

Stephen Fry was familiar with Varnum's needs, having served as a consultant when the firm was trying to decide between committing to Bridgewater Place or the never-built Watermark Place.

"I saw it as part of a transition and growth of our firm, a natural growth," Fry said. "We were selected because of our expertise in law firms and accounting firms and the kinds of firms that were proposed for that building."

The project would have brought 1,200 or more office workers into the center of the city.

Fewer than half likely would have been new to downtown. Most would have been transplants from the Frey Building, NBD/Bank One, Bridgewater and other older downtown spaces.

Landlords' fears of ending up with a huge amount of empty space at their existing buildings likely played a big role in scuttling the project.

"Whenever you've got a multi-tenant building that takes three or four major tenants it's always going to be a struggle to put up such a large type structure," he said.

Bridgewater's owners (Robert Grooters, among others) in particular made Varnum an offer that made a move to Lyon & Ottawa tough to justify, according to Fry.

"The fear was, which is exactly what happened, the existing landlord was going to make rent concessions to the point where it didn't make sense for them to move," he said.

A couple of years ago, Bill Bowling, chairman of commercial real estate firm Grubb & Ellis Paramount Commerce, told me DeVos and Ellis just couldn't get the numbers to crunch.

"We had about 40 to 50 percent of the building committed to," Bowling said. "As developers, they wanted about 75 percent before committing because the numbers were so tight."

Plans were formally put on hold in mid 2000, with then-DP Fox spokesman Don Hunt saying the delay was "to make sure everything works out as it needs to."

Among factors throwing a wrench into the works were spiraling interest rates, the political uncertainties of an election year and a lease rate that is being reconsidered, Hunt told former Press reporter Garrison Wells.

"What it comes down to is: What can we charge in the market and what will make the building work economically?" Hunt said at the time.

Bowling, like Fry, has been known to keep a rendering of the Lyon & Ottawa around his office. It's a conversation starter, at the very least. If the right tenant comes knocking, who knows?

Fry still likes the Lyon & Ottawa concept, location and aesthetic. In fact, he thinks if it were to have been built in 2000-01, it would be a success today.

"I think (downtown) could have handled it," Fry said. "It would have been better off with it. We would have absorbed it. It would have been a struggle for the first couple of years, but there is still no large open (office) spaces available in downtown Grand Rapids."

The day may come when the economics make sense to add that much new office space on the same parcel.

"Hopefully, at some point, our city will grow to the point where there will be a need and someone will decide that building still has a lot of good bones, and they will want to bring it back alive."

For now, though, we'll place Lyon & Ottawa among those dreams that never came we call the Rendering Graveyard.